Insurance Institute for Highway Safety And AAA Talks To 'Auto Trends'

 

This week IIHS (Insurance Institute for HIghway Safety (IIHS) and AAA joins us. To view the schedule, click here.

'Auto Trends' Talks Car Safety, Recalls And Self-Driving Cars On SiriusXM

Jason Levine, the executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, a consumer safety advocacy group formed by two-time USA presidential contender Ralph Nader, rejoin us, as we wrap up our conversation discussing limousine safety and more.

Also Joanne Muller, an automotive writer of the Virginia-based Axis group, joins us in the second half of the show to discuss what features qualifies a vehicles to be considered a self-driving car. There are actually six types of self-driving vehicles.

Latest RAND Safety Study: More Miles Needed On Autonomous Vehicles Before Giving The Green Light

This is a Google self driving vehicle.

According to a new RAND report study released today on autonomous vehicles, they would have to be driven hundreds of millions of miles and, under some scenarios, hundreds of billions of miles to create enough data to clearly demonstrate their safety.

Under even the most-aggressive test driving assumptions, it would take existing fleets of autonomous vehicles tens and even hundreds of years to log sufficient miles to adequately assess the safety of the vehicles when compared to human-driven vehicles, according to the analysis.

Researchers say the findings suggest that in order to advance autonomous vehicles into daily use, alternative testing methods must be developed to supplement on-the-road testing. Alternative methods might include accelerated testing, virtual testing and simulators, mathematical modeling, scenario testing and pilot studies.

Saturday's Radio Guest: Self-Driving Vehicle Expert Talks To Auto Trends with JeffCars.com

James Anderson, a senior behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School, joins Auto Trends with JeffCars.com for a two-part conversation in October and November, discussing autonomous vehicles. Anderson was a member of a think tank which was responsible for creating a guide for policymakers on autonomous vehicle technology. 


In our two-part conversation, we'll discuss everything from how it feels to be a passenger in a self driving vehicle to the two types of self driving vehicles to what infrastructure needs to be put into place to make this a viable driving option to how it will impact mass public transportation to the obstacles facing this technology to how it will impact personal insurance in case of an accident to how it could change driving age restrictions to how it will impact those who are physically-challenged to when the first vehicles will become available for consumer purchase.

Videos: Self-Driving Vehicles Coming Soon?

NBC shares what's happening with technology and driverless vehicles.

Jeff of JeffCars.com uses Ford's automatic parallel parking system.

Just in case you're doubtful about the future of self autonomous vehicles, after watching these videos you could be forced to squash any doubts you may have had! These videos show that Big Brother or Big Sister to be politically-correct are literally around the corner with such features as forward collision alert, self-assist parallel parking and a radar activated cruise control system. 

(Video) Self-Driving Vehicles: Coming In 2015?

Its coming! Are you ready to move into the future? Google and a number of automotive companies are working on a plan to move you into future with its George Jetson-like technology. Just wondering: Will this technology be priced within reach of the average consumer or will they priced out of our reach like most electric vehicles? And, will this drive down insurance premiums? That's the real question!